National Hardwood Magazine - Christmas 2022

2023 HARDWOOD PURCHASING PLANS Continued
then they don't sell and we don't have raw material to
turn into flooring. The lowering cost of flooring is making
it hard for manufacturers to pay up for lumber, and still
have a profit margin. Oftentimes, we take a profit loss
just to recoup expenses.
The current demand for customers is often "wood"
looking flooring that is inexpensive and looks nice. We
often must discuss with customers the many benefits of
real Hardwood flooring vs synthetic flooring. They don't
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always realize that the longevity of real flooring, even
though the expense at the time seems greater, makes
it cheaper in the long run. It is versatile in the sense
that if you want to change the color of your flooring
to match your remodel of your walls, it's as simple as
sanding and refinishing with a different stain. Or your
floor has lost it's luster and it's scratched up, then resand
and finish. If you used synthetic, you are looking
at tearing it out and buying all new flooring again. We
also have been dealing with supply
and demand in different species.
Oftentimes the desired species
is not readily available. We need
to demonstrate the other options
of a species that are available
and how it can meet their needs
and standards. s
better right now than even just 6 months ago; I expect
that to get better in 2023 as well.
Our staff right now is pretty good, and we’re fully
staffed. We’re seeing a lot more applications come in
than we have in a long time.
We’re seeing better supplies for the demands we
have. There are still some glitches that we must work
around, but it’s been much better than 6-12 months ago.
Most of our customers’ demands are for us to continue
with our service. We offer on-time
deliveries, exceptional customer
service from beginning to end of every
order. We work on that aspect
of our business every day. We teach
our employees that they are ALL
“customer service reps” to our customers.
It is a culture we strive for.
We’re always trying to do this part
better; the coming year will be no
exception. s
the shelves’ ready to go in almost every specie.
We are heavily supplied by our own sawmill, so we
don’t have the choice to back away from green purchasing.
As we look to the future the big change that we have
coming is that we are sourcing significantly more of our
green lumber from our own sawmill, Buskirk Lumber Co.
As of October, Buskirk is almost finished with building
a brand-new mill from the ground up. The new build-
Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year
from
A.W. STILES
CONTRACTORS, INC.
Please turn the page
DAN JOHANEK
BAYER INTERIOR
WOODS
SAUK CENTRE, MN
In 2023 I expect that prices will
continue to be on the decline for
the most part, just as they have
been in 2022.
This year anything that was paint
grade was a big mover for us, Maple,
Birch, Poplar. Rift White Oak
was also a good seller. Cherry ended
up moving slower for us. Our
customers had a strong preference
for paint grade and rift White Oak.
We do not anticipate releasing
any new products or services in
the coming year. We’re going to
continue to focus on our existing
customers and growing with them.
Transportation and logistics have
caused some issues this year. It’s
TYLER KAMPS
KAMPS HARDWOODS
CALEDONIA, MI
In the first half of 2022 we were
selling all species well. We had a
steady supply of each specie coming
through the system and there
was a shortage on almost everything.
Our purchase prices were
continually going up and getting
green lumber was difficult because
there was so much competition for
green. In the second half of 2022
we have seen the exact opposite.
No one wants to buy green lumber
and we have kiln-dried lumber ‘on
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Lee Stiles Cell (931) 409-0144 • Email: lee@awscontractorsinc.com
Casey Miller Cell (931) 607-7451 • Email: casey@awscontractorsinc.com
Glenn Thompson Cell (615) 372-4261 • Email: glenn@awscontractorsinc.com
Office: (931) 668-8768 • Fax: (931) 668-7327
286 Bass Lane, McMinnville, TN 37110
www.awscontractorsinc.com